Advocacy groups are calling on countries across the Americas, particularly the United States and the Dominican Republic, to stop deporting migrants and asylum seekers to Haiti, amid a surge in gang violence and political instability in the country. .
Geerline Joseph, president of the Haiti Bridge Alliance, a US-based advocacy group, spoke at an event in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, explaining that “no place is safe” for displaced people.
“We are calling for a complete halt to deportations.”[s] to Haiti by land, sea and air,” she said, stressing that Haitians and other asylum seekers should have access to avenues for protection.
Haiti has been facing widespread violence for more than a month, with powerful armed groups launching attacks on police stations, prisons and other facilities in the capital Port-au-Prince in late February.
The violence has virtually paralyzed the city and forced more than 360,000 Haitians to flee their homes across the country, according to the United Nations agency International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Despite the ongoing turmoil, IOM reported Thursday that neighboring countries forcibly returned 13,000 migrants to Haiti in March. This is an increase of 46% compared to the previous month.
“A lack of economic opportunity, coupled with collapsed health systems and school closures, casts a shadow of despair, leading many to consider migration as the only viable option,” IOM added. Ta.
“However, for most Haitians, the prospect of regular migration remains an insurmountable hurdle, with irregular migration the only sign of hope.”
“Forced returns must stop.”
People have been fleeing Haiti long before the recent escalation of violence. Security has been a long-standing issue, especially since the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in 2021 created a power vacuum in the Caribbean country.
But last month, as violence reached new heights, the United Nations and humanitarian groups called on countries to ensure Haitians are protected.
“The lives, security and freedom of Haitians are threatened by a combination of rapidly increasing gang violence and human rights violations,” said Elizabeth Tan, director of international protection at the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHRC), on March 20.
“We also call on all countries not to forcibly return people to Haiti, including those whose asylum claims have been rejected.”
This week, Amnesty International and other rights groups directly called on the Dominican Republic to end its “de facto racist immigration policy” targeting Haitians, Haitian Dominicans and black people in the country. did.
The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, has sent thousands of Haitians back to their home country in the past few years. Rights groups denounced the forced returns as discriminatory and warned they put people's lives at risk.
“The Dominican government itself has notified that more than 250,000 Haitians, including those in need of international protection, will be deported in 2023,” Amnesty International's Americas Director Anna Picar said in a statement on Tuesday. Stated.
“These mass expulsions are a clear violation of the Dominican Republic's international obligations and endanger the lives and rights of these people. Forced returns to Haiti must stop.”
Temporary protection status
Meanwhile, advocacy groups are also calling on President Joe Biden's administration to expand deportation protections for Haitians living in the United States.
About 500 advocacy, human rights, and civil society organizations wrote late last month to Biden and other U.S. government officials to extend and reinstate a program called Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti. We requested the U.S. government to designate it.
The U.S. government grants TPS to nationals of countries whose return is unsafe due to temporary circumstances, such as in the case of armed conflict or environmental disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes.
Recipients can remain in the United States and work in the country without fear of deportation. Haiti's TPS designation expires in early August.
However, in an interview with McClatchy News Agency, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas suggested that the United States is unlikely to extend TPS for Haitians.
Mayorkas said Thursday that there are “no plans at this time to redesignate Haiti to Temporary Protected Status.”
Advocates also say the United States should halt repatriation of Haitian asylum seekers, including those captured at sea.
In a recent example, on March 12, the U.S. Coast Guard returned 65 Haitian migrants to Haiti after their vessel was seized near the Bahamas. This brings the total number of Haitians repatriated by authorities since October 31, 2023 to 131.
🚨481 organizations gathered to appeal @POTUS, @SecBlinkenand @SecMayorkas Extend and redesignate Haiti's Temporary Protected Status (TPS) amid worsening domestic violence. 🚨
Read the letter here 👉🏾 https://t.co/QUe69VBCjx
— Haitian Bridge (@HaitianBridge) March 27, 2024
Coast Guard officials said in a statement that they will repatriate “anyone of any nationality who attempts to immigrate illegally by sea.”
Mayorkas reiterated that view in an interview with McClatchy on Thursday.
“Let me be clear: If we intercept a person of Haitian origin at sea, we will return them to Haiti as soon as possible. In fact, we have been doing so in recent weeks and will continue to do so.” “We will continue to enforce the law,” he said.
Immigration has long been a contentious political issue in the United States, and is expected to receive significant national attention as the country prepares for November's presidential election.
The vote is expected to pit Biden against his Republican predecessor, Donald Trump, whose anti-immigrant rhetoric and border restrictions were key policies of his administration.
Two anonymous U.S. officials told NBC News last month that the Biden administration would not change its policy of repatriating Haitians captured at sea “because we don't want to cause mass migration.”
However, in a March 26 letter, the human rights group urged the Biden administration to “suspend all removal flights and sea removals” to Haiti, describing it as “an already overburdened country.” He asked them to do so.
“These expulsions significantly undermine the administration's promise to build a fairer and more inclusive immigration and asylum system for all and contribute to the destabilization of Haiti,” they wrote.
